Barbara, Gaza
| Barbara | |
 Barbara
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| Arabic | برْبره |
| Also Spelled | Berbere |
| Sub-district | Gaza |
| Coordinates | 31°37′25.91″N 34°34′45.72″E / 31.6238639°N 34.5793667°ECoordinates: 31°37′25.91″N 34°34′45.72″E / 31.6238639°N 34.5793667°E |
| Population | 2,410 (1945) |
| Area | 12,700 dunums
12.7 km² |
| Date of depopulation | November 5th, 1948[1] |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault by Yishuv forces |
| Current localities | Mavki'im,[2] Talmei Yafeh |
Barbara (Arabic: برْبره) was a Palestinian Arab village in the District of Gaza located 17 km northeast of Gaza City, in the vicinity of modern Ashkelon. It had an entirely Arab population of 2,410 in 1945 . The village consisted of nearly 14,000 dunums of which approximately 12,700 dunums was able to be cultivated. It was captured by Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
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[edit] History
Barbara received its modern name from the Romans. After the Roman rule the village was under the control of a number of empires and dynasties ranging from the Byzantines, various Islamic Arab dynasties, the Crusaders, the Turkish Mamluks and Ottomans and Great Britain.
According to the Arab geographer Mujir al-Din al-Hanbali (d. ca. 1522), the village was home to the Muslim scholar Sheik Yusuf al-Barbarawi, a local sage and a student of renowned scolar Ahmad ibn Dawud, who died in 1323.[3] During the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Murad III (1574-1596), Barbara's only mosque was built. It contained the tomb of Yusuf al-Barbarawi. [4] In 1596, Barbara was part of the Ottoman Empire, nahiya (subdistrict) of Gaza under the liwa' (district) of Gaza with a population of 402.[5]
In the late nineteenth century, the village of Barbara was rectangular in shape and surrounded by gardens and two ponds. The sand encroaching from the coast was stopped by the cactus hedges of the gardens. To the east of the village there were olive groves.[6] The above-mentioned mosque, built late 1500-hundred, was still standing, and in addition the village center contained a number of shops. An elementary school was founded in 1921, and by 1947 it had 252 students. Barbara was also known for its long rugs, al-mazawid, which were woven by the women of the village.[4]
[edit] 1948 War
Barbara was captured by a possible combination of the Negev, Giv'ati and Yiftach brigades on November 5, 1948 during Operation Yoav. At the end of November 1948, Coastal Plain District troops carried out sweeps of the villages around and to the south of Majdal. Barbara was one of the villages named in the orders to the IDF battalions and engineers platoon, that the villagers were to be expelled to Gaza, and the IDF troops were "to prevent their return by destroying their villages." The path leading to the village was to be mined. The IDF troops were ordered to carry out the operation "with determination, accuracy and energy".[7] The operation took place on 30 November. The troops found "about 40" villagers in Barbara and al-Jiyya, "composed of women, old men and children", who offered no resistance. They were expelled to Beit Hanun, in the northern Gaza strip. Eight young men who were found were sent to a POW camp.[8]
Currently, the Jewish moshavim of Mavki'im and Talmei Yafeh are built on the former village's land. According to the Palestinian historian Walid Khalidi (1992), the village remaining structures on the village land are:
"The crumbled walls and debris of houses are all that remains of the village buildings. The debris is overgrown with thorns and brush. Old eucalyptus and sycamore trees and cactuses also grow on the site. Some of the old streets are clearly identifiable. One area of the site serves as a garbage dump and a junkyard for old cars. The surrounding lands are planted by Israeli farmers in corn."[9]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Morris, 2004, village #310 p xvii, Also gives the cause for depopulation
- ^ Morris, 2004, p. xxi: settlement #50, January 1949.
- ^ Al-Khalidi 1968:84, and D 1/2:255, fn. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 81.
- ^ a b Khalidi, 1992, p. 81.
- ^ Hütteroth, Wolf-Dieter and Kamal Abdulfattah (1977), Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century. Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft. p. 151. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 81
- ^ Conder and Kitchener, 1881, III: p.259. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p.81
- ^ Coastal Plain District HQ to battalions 151 and ´1 Volunteers`, etc., 19:55 hours, 25 Nov. 1948, IDFA (=Israeli Defence Forces and Defence Ministry Archive) 6308\49\\141. Cited in Morris, 2004, p.517
- ^ Coastal Plain HQ to Southern Front\Operations, 30 Nov. 1948, IDFA 1978\50\\1; and Southern Front\Operations to General Staff Divisions, 2. Dec. 1948, IDFA 922\75\\1025. Cited in Morris, 2004, p.518
- ^ Khalidi, 1992, p.82
[edit] Bibliography
- Conder, Claude Reignier and H.H. Kitchener (1881): The Survey of Western Palestine: memoirs of the topography, orography, hydrography, and archaeology. London:Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund. vol 3
- Hadawi, Sami (1970), Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine, Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center, http://www.palestineremembered.com/Articles/General-2/Story3150.html
- Haimi, Yoram (2008): Mavqi‘im Final Report Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel, No. 120.
- Khalidi, Walid (1992), All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948, Washington D.C.: Institute for Palestine Studies, ISBN 0-88728-224-5
- Morris, Benny (2004), The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-00967-6, http://books.google.com/?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=benny+morris&q
[edit] External links
- Welcome to Barbara Palestine Remembered
- Barbara, from the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Center
